


You're (We're) Not Alone Anymore

by minishadowsoul



Series: Family Means Your Problems Are Our Problems [1]
Category: Descendants (2015), The Isle of the Lost - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Carlos is Sick, Gen, The Isle Four treat each other like the family they wanted, everyone needs a hug but especially Carlos, everyone panics but especially Jay, they're not paranoid they're just cautious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 04:09:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4592373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minishadowsoul/pseuds/minishadowsoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the Isle everyone took care of themselves. Anything less was admitting weakness, and the children of villains were not allowed to have weaknesses. They still have problems admitting they need help, but that’s okay. They have each other, now, and one person’s problem is everyone’s problem. </p><p>Or the one where Carlos gets sick and everyone takes care of him and pretends they aren’t panicking</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're (We're) Not Alone Anymore

**Author's Note:**

> Also not beta'd. 
> 
> As of now, the plan is to have a fic where someone has a problem, and the other three help them deal with it. We'll see if I have the energy and gumption to actually do that.
> 
> And a personal thank you to the people who left Kudos on the last fic because, let me tell you, I was not expecting that.
> 
> (Edited to add italics to Mal's spell like I'd originally intended)

Most days, Jay woke up to the sounds of Carlos getting ready for school or whatever activity the younger teen had planned for that day. Carlos would give Dude food and water, clean up the bits of the room he’d decided to be in charge of, shower if he hadn’t the night before, get dressed, brush his teeth, and then stare at his perfectly made bed and perfectly polished night stand and perfectly clean section of the room for a few minutes. 

Sometimes, he’d glance over at where Jay was inevitably tossing clothes around and generally making a mess in an effort to find something to wear or something he’d misplaced, glance back at his bed, then purposefully yank on his covers so the bed was messy once more. Other times, he’d shove stuff off of a table, careful to avoid anything small enough that Dude might choke on, should the dog decide to chew on it, arrange everything with his foot, and smile at the mess. His shoulders were always tight whenever he did this, but he’d mostly managed to stop himself from glancing around with wide, wary eyes. Instead his head would twitch like he wanted to look around and was reminding himself that the only person in the room was Jay (and sometimes Mal and Evie), and for the most part they didn’t care what he did with his stuff.

Whenever he turned around, officially ready to start the day, Jay would just ruffle his hair, Evie would give him a huge smile and offer him her arm if she were there (because she claimed it was the greatest of honors to be escorted by Carlos and Dude), and Mal, when present, would smirk and offer suggestions on how to rearrange the mess into something more artistic. Sometimes, Carlos even took Mal’s advice and a scattered mess of writing utensils and books on the floor turned into something slightly more structured and vaguely artsy. Their reactions to the mess he’d made, such as they were, always made Carlos’ shoulders lose most of the tension, and he finally started smiling again instead of wearing that blank, somewhat frightened expression he wore whenever he expected someone to tell him he was wrong. 

This morning, however, Jay woke up to bits of sunlight streaming into his eyes. This wasn’t exactly unusual, but the fact that he’d managed to sleep through Carlos moving around before dawn was. The clock told him it wasn’t quite time to panic about being late to class. Not that any of them ever panicked about that. Going to class on time still felt wrong, but some of their teachers and classmates (friends?) actually looked proud whenever they did. It was…weird, but it was nice so most of the Isle Four made the effort to be on time (and sometimes early just in case bad habit struck on the way to class). A second glance at the clock told him it was Sunday, and he didn’t even need to worry about class or anything else for at least six hours. 

Except, now that he was awake, he’d never fall back asleep so he rolled out of bed and stumbled his way into the bathroom, hoping cold water would make him feel more awake than not. He may not have any plans other than practice in the afternoon, but he could tag along with Carlos or one of the girls and see what they had planned. He might as well do something if he was awake.

He reached out to grab his hairbrush from its spot on the counter only to find empty space. Every morning they’d been in Auradon, Carlos had always found Jay’s hairbrush from wherever he’d left it the day before and placed it in its designated spot on the counter so Jay never had to look for it (and no one would step on it during nighttime trips to the bathroom). It wasn’t there this morning, nor had it been knocked onto the ground. Jay frowned at the spot where it was supposed to be for a few moments before shuffling out of the bathroom. It was too early to look for it himself when Carlos always knew where it was.

“Carlos, bro, do you remember where I put my…..” he started, then trailed off with a frown. Judging by the lump of covers in Carlos’ bed, he and Dude hadn’t gotten up yet. Jay was actually a bit proud. His friend deserved to sleep in, even if he rarely chose to exercise that right. Except Carlos never made changes in his routine without telling someone first. He still asked Jay if it was okay to use the shower at night instead of in the morning or whenever he had to bathe Dude off schedule (Dude had found his way into a mess of mud and leaves more than once. It was never pretty). He told his three friends what he had planned for that day and texted them updates, and though he never outright asked for permission, it felt vaguely implied so one or more of them would text back something along the lines of, “Sounds fun!” or “Good luck!”

Jay actually wasn’t sure if Carlos just felt insecure because of the strange surroundings and the inherent distrust people they all shared or if he was genuinely afraid of doing something that messed up one of their plans. Jay never asked; he was pretty sure Evie and Mal never asked either. The same way no one said anything when Evie reapplied her make up for the fifth time in a day, or Mal hunched in on herself and drew furious strokes in her notebooks whenever she thought she’d disppointed someone, or Jay emerged from some hiding spot and placed his arm around one of their shoulders, eyes always searching for whatever it was he’d been hiding from. Things were different in Auradon, but none of them were quite ready to trust that they would stay different.

Jay poked gingerly at the lump under the blankets with his tourney stick. Better safe than sorry, after all. Dude was the first one to crawl his way out, yawning and stretching before hopping off the bed and then sitting by his food bowl expectantly. Carlos made a quiet grumble and didn’t move at all so Jay took the time to give Dude some food and water before he started poking at the lump again.

“Carlos. Bro. You have to get ready for class, and if you could tell me where I put my hairbrush, too, that would be awesome,” Jay said. Sure, it was Sunday, but if Carlos had forgotten, mentioning class would definitely get him up. He was getting a little worried, now, and he had to physically shake himself before he said something stupid because Carlos was Family. Family he’d chosen for himself and not just someone he’d been stuck with. He didn’t need to pretend he wasn’t worried by making fun of his friend. At least not until he was certain nothing at all was wrong.

He ended up having to actually help Carlos untangle himself from his blanket, and man, did Carlos look terrible. He was pale, his nose was a bit red, and he moved like every inch of him ached at least a little bit. Jay couldn’t remember Carlos reporting that someone had beat him up, but that wasn’t the sort of thing Carlos would tell any of them anyway. Besides, he didn’t look like he’d gotten into a fight; he looked sick.

“What time ‘s it?” Carlos asked groggily. He sounded like he’d swallowed at least two frogs, and when he tried to clear his throat he ended up coughing so much that Jay winced in sympathy. That did not sound good.

Jay tossed his tourney stick in the general direction of his own bed, gently grabbed Carlos by the shoulders, and placed his lips on his friend’s forehead. He’d had what felt like a small cold about a week ago, and one of the cheerleaders had done the same to him, giggling all the while. It had been her smirking sister who had explained that the forehead thing was how their mother had figured out if they had a fever when they were younger. Jay was almost a hundred percent certain the cheerleader had not actually been checking for a fever, but he was just as certain they had been using actual facts as an excuse. 

Carlos’ skin felt like it was on fire, and while Jay panicked a little in his own head, his friend managed to shake off his grip and crawl out of the bed. He stumbled to his feet and attempted to make his way into the bathroom and somehow managed to nearly fall over. Jay was quick enough to catch him. Dude actually whined and paced the length of Jay’s bed, careful to avoid any spots where he might accidentally end up tripping one of the two teens as Jay helped Carlos make his way to their bathroom. 

“Okay, I am helping you into the shower before you fall and give yourself a concussion,” Jay decided, already in the process of removing his friend’s sleeping shirt. Carlos made a series of sounds that might have been a protest and a declaration that he could handle this, but Jay ignored them. “Then you are getting back in bed and resting.”

He left Carlos in the bathroom once he was mostly certain he would’t fall over and injure himself, but he still left the door open so he could hear if Carlos fell. He stood in the middle of the room for a few minutes trying not to panic too loudly and tried to figure out what his next course of action should be. His first instinct was to sneak off campus, go to a store, and swipe whatever medicine he could fit into his pockets. He was actually glad his first instinct wasn’t to gather his things and bolt out of the room, leaving Carlos (and Dude) to deal with this themselves. A few months go, he would have done just that and probably would have stolen all of the blankets for good measure. Now, however, all he could think about was how defenseless Carlos would be until he got better. 

The people in Auradon (probably) wouldn’t hurt Carlos while he was sick and miserable, but tell that to the churning feeling in Jay’s gut. The Isle Four were the children of villains, and while they might have publicly declared their change of heart, there were still people who didn’t believe them. Some people would probably never believe them, no matter what they did or said. If those people found out, they might hurt Carlos as some sort of revenge for his mother’s horrible deeds. Or to make Jay, Evie, and Mal pay for their own parents’ actions. They might even do it merely because one less villain in the world is one less they have to worry about. Never mind that, out of all of them, Carlos is the one who could barely manage to be bad even when back on the Isle. 

Ridiculous as the idea was, now that it was in his head, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. The people of Auradon could be just as bad as the people on the Isle of the Lost; they were just better at hiding it behind friendly smiles and pretty words. Just look at Chad and everyone involved in the decision to imprison people (including their children) on an island without magic. He immediately checked the windows to make sure they were locked and tried to think of some way to barricade them without people asking questions. Maybe Mal had a spell that could help. Maybe he should shove the table against the wall, barricade the sides with the dressers, and make a nest for Carlos there. It would be easier to defend than the bed. He wished he’d packed his machete or at least a few knives. He’d feel a lot better with an actual weapon in his hand. All he had was his and Carlos’ tourney sticks. Maybe he should just give the shield to Carlos and hope that Dude was better at defending Carlos from human attackers than he was at defending them from Maleficent then stand guard near the table nest with the tourney stick and…..

The bathroom door may have been open, but Carlos managed to stumble into it, still dripping wet and with a towel barely held together at his waist. He didn’t even seem to notice the mess he was making or that he’d left his scars uncovered. That was worrying. Carlos hated making a mess and hated showing proof of his horrible childhood to the world even more. He shambled his way to his dresser, swaying only a little bit, and pulled seemingly random items out presumably to wear for the day. Instead of a shirt, he had grabbed his tourney jersey and managed to pull it halfway on then got tangled and nearly fell over.

Jay rushed over to catch him once again, hoping Carlos manage to break his head (or his arm or his laptop or anything really). 

“Maybe you should stay in today. It’s Sunday; it’ll be no big deal,” he tried, but he already knew that short of tying Carlos to his bed or straight up knocking him out, he wasn’t going to talk his friend out of trying to do whatever it was he had planned for that day.

“’m fine,” Carlos insisted with a frown as Jay helped tug his arms into an actual shirt and not his jersey. “I have…….test. There’s a test and practice and….and stuff. Study,” he added in an attempt at making sense. He knew there were other things he had to do today, but everything felt a bit jumbled and talking made his throat hurt. The water he’d drunk from the faucet seemed to be helping his throat a bit so he clearly wasn’t as bad off as Jay thought he was. He wasn’t even making that horrible croaking noise anymore. Mostly. Sort of.

Jay knelt down and placed Carlos’ hand on his shoulder in the hopes his friend would use him to help with balance then instructed, “Leg. Other leg. Please don’t fall over. If you break something Evie is going to poison me. I’ll never be able to accept anything from her ever again. Sit on the bed. I’ll help with shoes and socks. Your jacket’s by your elb-”

“I’m fine,” Carlos insisted again, but he did as instructed. At this point, it was easier to agree than risk a wrestling match that Jay would inevitably win and then get his way anyway. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need-” He cut himself off, flinching just a bit. Great. Now he was worried that Jay would stop helping and do…something horrible. They were friends now, but friends didn’t snap at each other and act ungrateful when they helped each other out. Even if the friend clearly didn’t need any help at all.

Jay stood up and gave Carlos a very serious stare, not saying a word as his friend attempted to shrug on his jacket with as little movement as possible. He looked even more miserable than he had when he’d woken up, but it wasn’t because of his illness. He kept glancing at Jay out of the corner of his eye the same way Jay had seen him look at his mother back on the Isle. After a moment, Jay grabbed the towel from the floor and tried to dry at least a little of Carlos’ hair. Once the towel was mostly keeping Carlos from looking at him, he mumbled, “Yeah. You’d probably manage just fine on your own. But you don’t have to. Not anymore. You have, y’know, us.”

He may not be any good at properly securing their room, at least not without proper supplies and a few hours of work, and he definitely wasn’t going to convince Carlos to stay in their room and avoid everyone until he felt better. He couldn’t even do anything about Carlos’ cold and wasn’t really any good at the whole research thing. But Carlos was giving him that surprised smile he still gave all of them when they were nicer to him than he expected (so basically whenever they did anything nice). It made Jay feel like he’d done something right. 

He’d just have to make sure Carlos was never alone and tell Mal and Evie that Carlos didn’t feel well so they could convince their friend to hole up in a room until they’d dealt with it. If nothing else, the girls could convince Carlos to rest. Everything was going to be fine. All Jay needed to do was help Carlos travel to the girls’ room. Then the three of them would hatch a plan. He could do this. He could handle it.

~*~

Jay was so not handling this, but Carlos was handling this like a pro. Fortunately, there had been an actual, required class on the Isle that involved acting lessons. Mostly, their teacher focused on pretending to be good and nice in order to gain a victim’s trust before you stabbed them in the back. Pretending not to be sick or pretending one wasn’t on the verge of panic because their friend was sick and they had no idea what to do about it wasn’t that dissimilar. It was all about the smiles and nonchalant attitude and misdirection.

Actually, Carlos figured it was a bit like stealing things in plain sight so he had no idea why Jay was acting so obviously distressed. Jay kept an arm wrapped around his shoulder and glanced down at him at least once every five seconds. It made for very obvious tells, and of the two of them, Jay was the one who should be better at pretending nothing at all was wrong. 

He was glad for Jay’s arm, however, because it was really the only thing keeping him upright. Plus, Jay kept handing him a water bottle every few minutes and prodded him until he sipped at it. His throat still hurt, but the water made it feel slightly better. And Jay intercepted anyone who tried to talk to him so Carlos didn’t have to do anything other than nod or wave. 

He was careful to at least look like he was walking normally, even if his whole body ached, and no matter how much he wanted to clear his throat or whimper, he tried not to make any noise at all. It was difficult to move so that his jacket made next to no noise, but he sort of managed it. Probably. He’d found that everything always sounded louder to his own ears, especially when he was sick or on edge, so he figured he wasn’t actually making that much noise. He didn’t even protest when he realized Jay was steering them to the girls’ room. Protesting would have involved far too much noise and far too much pain for his liking.

Surely one of the girls would tell Jay he was overreacting, Carlos could then do whatever it was he had planned for that day (as soon as he figured it out), and everything would be fine.

Except Evie opened the door, took one look at them, and ushered them in without a word. She steered Carlos to her bed and tugged off his jacket then told Jay to dampen a few rags with cold water. Carlos just shivered and wished he had the energy to grab his jacket from its spot on a nearby chair or tug the blanket around him. Dude hopped onto the bed and curled up beside him, whimpering quietly.

“I’m fi-“ Carlos started to insist, but not only did trying to talk make his throat hurt, it also tickled too much. He had to clamp his mouth shut and barely avoided a coughing fit that would have made enough noise to wake Mal up from her slumber. He did not want to be the one to wake Mal up before she was ready for something as silly as this.

Evie pressed her lips to Carlos’ forehead, same as Jay had earlier, and made a quiet, distressed noise. “I’m going to see if they put any thermometers in the bathroom,” she informed him. “Don’t. Move.” 

Jay came back with the rags and placed one on the back of Carlos’ neck before checking Carlos’ temperature again. Carlos made a noise that was only half a protest. The pressing of the lips on the forehead to tell his temperature was outdated and completely unnecessary, but it did feel nice. His mother had certainly never done anything like that. 

“You’re burning up,” Jay hissed, as if Carlos’ temperature was a personal failing of some sort, and carefully held a second rag to Carlos’ forehead. Carlos was still shivering, even though he’d tried to stop, but the coolness still felt good against his skin. “We need oranges. And tea. And medicine,” Jay decided.

Mal nudged Jay with one of her notebooks. Carlos had no idea when she’d gotten up, but she’d been awake long enough to look up cold remedies and scribble them down. She replaced Jay’s hand on Carlos’ forehead with her own so Jay could rip out the page, fold it, and shove it in a pocket.

“Use the stash money for supplies. Does this school even have an infirmary or something, d’you think?” Mal asked. She was reluctant to order Jay to actually steal anything from the infirmary. Even if he left behind money to pay back what they took, someone would notice, and judging by the wary looks on everyone’s faces, they didn’t want anyone to notice any more than she did. The definitely couldn’t trust certain individuals at the school not to pounce once they saw weakness. Not when the Isle Four were involved.

“There might be a nurse. They’d know what to do,” Evie pointed (and when had she left the bathroom?) as she moved all of Mal’s blankets and pillows to her own bed and started making a nest for Carlos to curl up in. She sounded unsure but hopeful. Auradon was good so they’d help, right?

“No way,” Jay protested. “Auradon is perfect. You think they just let sick people just wander around? I don’t see any walking around. Do you? No. Because no one ever gets sick in Auradon. Or what if he has some sort of Isle sickness, and they send him back so he doesn’t infect everyone else? Huh?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Mal snapped. “Ben wouldn’t let them do that, and if no one ever got sick, I wouldn’t have been able to look up cold remedies on the internet! You’re being paranoid, Jay!”

“Guys. Guys!” Evie hissed before Mal and Jay could start a shouting match. She’d managed to convince Carlos it was okay to curl up on the bed, but she’d only allowed him a sheet to wrap around himself until they found out his actual temperature. His shivers made the bed shake, and he kept almost coughing then stopping himself before much noise could be made. Every so often he would let out a quiet whimper. 

“I’ll get the stuff on the list,” Jay decided. He waved a hand to indicate he heard Evie ask for a thermometer of some sort and was gone before anyone else could start another argument.

Whereas Mal perched on the end of the bed and flipped through her spell book to see if there was any magic that might help the situation, Evie sat next to Carlos and ran her fingers through his hair. He relaxed underneath her touch only to flinch whenever a cough made its way past his throat.

“Carlos, sweetie, we don’t care if you cough. It’ll probably help break up all of that stuff in your lungs and might your throat feel a little better. For a little while, at least,” Evie murmured. She had a feeling she knew exactly why Carlos refused to make any noise and was reluctantly (and barely) admitting he needed help, but she didn’t want to make him say it.

“If she hears me, she’ll get mad,” Carlos murmured back. That was what it sounded like he said, at any rate. There was barely a pause before he added, “Don’t wanna go back. Wanna stay here.” 

Mal dropped her spell book and scrambled to catch it before it hit the floor, sharing a wide-eyed, panicked look with Evie once the book was securely in her grip. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at Carlos for a few seconds, letting the implications of his comments sink in. Finally, she pressed her lips pressed together and nodded decisively. 

“No one’s going to make you go anywhere you don’t want to,” Evie promised over the sound of Mal furiously flipping pages. Despite her words, Carlos still tried to sit up and make what sounded like a pleaful whimper, but Evie only had to gently push him back onto the bed before he relented and kept still. 

“I forgot to clean the room this morning,” Carlos whimpered and coughed twice before he decided to shove his face into his pillow in order to muffle the sound. “Jay’s gonna be mad at me,” he added once the round of coughing was through. “I need to get up and do that.”

“I found a spell to keep noise from leaving the room,” Mal announced. She scooted closer so she could put a hand on Carlos’ leg and get his attention. “And Jay isn’t mad about the room. I promise. You worry about getting better, and we’ll worry about everything else, okay? Once this spell is up, you can cough and sneeze all you want. And if anyone gets mad, I’ll curse them.”

“We all agreed to be good,” Evie reminded her with a small smile. “But I suppose that anyone that gets mad at Carlos for no reason is clearly evil, and it is our duty as good citizens to make them pay for it.” 

The three of them shared a grin, though Carlos’ was small and pained. Then Mal straightened, held up her spell book and recited, “ _Silent as the falling tree. From this room you’ll hear no screams._ ” She paused once she’d finished and caught her lower lip with her teeth, glancing from corner to corner as she waited for the spell to take hold. There was a rush of energy that made her shiver, and the walls sparkled for an instant before everything went back to normal. 

“That was your mother’s creepiest spell yet,” Evie whispered and shuddered.

“Did it work?” Carlos asked sleepily.

Mal looked around the room and wondered if anyone else could feel the slight tingle of magic in the air. After a moment, she nodded. “Yeah, it worked. I promise. No backsies.” She even held up her hands so Carlos could see she didn’t have her fingers crossed behind her back.

Carlos’ only response sounded like an attempt to cough up a lung.

~*~

Jay returned with five regular oranges, two mandarin oranges, half a bottle of some tea with lemon in it, two different samples of cold meds, something to help with mucus problems, three painters masks, and, much to Evie’s delight, a thermometer. He dumped his haul at the foot of the bed and sat beside it, looking far too proud of his accomplishments.

At some point while he’d been gone, Mal had curled up next to Carlos and started sketching what appeared to be some sort of get well picture of some sort. Evie’s night stand had been cleared off so Evie could work on her chemistry homework. Every so often Carlos would start whimpering or coughing again, and they would reach over to pet Carlos’ head, feel his forehead, or just pat his arm or leg so he knew they were still there. Every time he started coughing, Evie put down her pencil and grabbed the wastebasket next to the bed, just in case.

It was Evie who moved to look at what Jay had brought back. She frowned at the pile even as she held out her hand. “Thermometer, please. Did you steal all of this?”

“No,” Jay protested and leaned forward so he would be able to see the numbers on the thermometer once if was done figuring out Carlos’ temperature. “Technically I paid for most of it. And I have a list of people I took stuff from, in case I didn’t give them enough or something. So we can pay them back what we owe.” Still, he shifted uneasily and glanced at the pile of stuff. They were supposed to be good now, and good people didn’t steal anything, no matter their reasoning. 

“It’s okay,” Mal said quickly. “That Sherwood guy stole stuff to give to the poor, right? And you switched some stuff with money so that’s paid for. Besides, we can pay everyone back somehow. I’ll charge less for hairstyles for a few weeks, and Evie can tutor people or something. It’s no big deal.” She didn’t sound nearly as sure as she was trying to, but thankfully, the thermometer started beeping. It made for a nice distraction from the guilt.

The beeping made Carlos stir and blearily open his eyes. Mal helped him sit up while Jay opened up the tea bottle. Sure, someone else had drunk half of it, but they’d had worse. It would be fine. 

“Almost a hundred and one,” Evie told them, trying not to sound too panicked. “Carlos, drink the tea Jay is giving you and take some medicine.” She rubbed Carlos’ back when he made a mumbled sound of agreement and tried to avoid coughing long enough to drink the tea and take the medicine he was handed. Evie took the discarded packaging and flipped to a new page in her notebook so she could mark down the time and what kind of medicine Carlos had taken. If it worked well, they’d send Jay out for more of the same kind, and if it didn’t, she’d mark that down and they’d try something else.

“He’s going to be okay, right?” Jay asked quietly. He unpeeled a mandarin orange and tried to get Carlos to eat some of it. Carlos refused until Evie took the piece from Jay, took a small bite out of it, chewed, swallowed, then handed the rest of the piece to Carlos. 

“It’s what my mom used to do when I refused to eat things when I was little. Too many poisoned apple stories, you know?” she admitted while Carlos munched. They only managed to get him to eat a few more pieces before he slumped against Mal’s shoulder and started snoring softly. 

“Someone’ll notice if we’re all in here all day,” Mal whispered. She frowned down at Carlos and ran a hand through his hair. His hair was damp with sweat, despite his near constant shivering. Hopefully the medicine would work and no one would need to monitor him in the shower. It would be nice if his fever broke before they had to admit defeat and find out if Auradon would even let any of them in a hospital. 

“Jay can stay here for a bit, and I’ll go study somewhere with people. This way, no one will ask questions,” Evie decided. She was already standing up and packing up her things as she spoke. “What are we going to do if he’s still sick tomorrow? We have class.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Mal decided. It wouldn’t be too hard, right? They could definitely do this so long as they all stuck together. 

~*~

Two people stayed with Carlos at all times on Sunday, and even when Evie wasn’t there, someone made careful notes about Carlos’ symptoms, the medicine, and Carlos’ reaction to it. There were even notes about his reaction to some food and drinks Jay had brought back on his second supply run. Unlike Evie’s detailed notes, Jay’s notes were shorter and paid more attention to Carlos’ reactions to things than how well the medicine worked. “Med C worked for thirty-four minutes then coughing came back. Carlos says oranges feel weird in his mouth but agreed to drink squeezed out juice. Prefers tea. Likes blueberries dipped in honey. Says they made his throat feel better.” While Mal’s notes were filled with doodles that still, somehow, made sense. 

Jay left in the middle of the night and came back with an electric tea kettle, a hot plate, and a metal tea pot. He claimed he’d found them in the trash, and whether he actually did or not, he still spent an entire hour voluntarily cleaning them out in the bathroom. The electric kettle didn’t work when they plugged it in, but if Evie couldn’t figure out what was wrong, Carlos would be able to when he was better so it wasn’t a waste. The hot plate took longer than it should have to heat up, but otherwise it worked just fine.

They didn’t have any tea cups, glasses, or even mugs, but Evie had returned after lunch with a thermos of chicken broth she’d pilfered from the cafeteria so they used that and empty bottles they’d rinsed out to pour the tea into. They slept in shifts, and if Mal murmured more than one spell to guard the room from intruders, well, the other two weren’t going to say a word about it.

~*~

By Monday morning, Carlos was doing better, but was still in no shape to go to class. Mal collected everyone’s schedules and figured out a way to keep at least one person in the room with Carlos at all times. Jay carried a still sleeping Carlos back to their room in the early hours of the morning, Evie, Mal, and Dude following, in case someone checked the girls’ room during the day. Besides, Mal claimed protection spells seeped into the walls of the boys’ room better than they did in the girls’ room. Evie theorized it had something to do with the wood, and everyone pretended they didn’t prefer that room because it was filled with sturdier furniture they could shove in front of the door and had smaller windows. 

Between the three of them, they managed to collect all of Carlos’ assignments and a summary of what had been taught in his classes that day. One thing villain school had prepared them for was practicing believable excuses. It was certainly easier to deflect anyone from asking where Carlos was in Auradon than it would have been on the Isle. 

By unspoken agreement, the three of them refused to let Carlos do anything more stressful than easy homework assignments, playing with Dude so long as he didn’t move around too much, and a game of poker where everyone found out Carlos was way better at the game than expected (and not just because they were trying to go easy on him). They fell asleep in a tangle of limbs on Carlos’ bed, and even though the warmth from everyone’s bodies coupled with all of the blankets and pillows from the room made everone hot and sweaty, no one complained one bit.

Not even when Jay woke up with Carlos’ foot tangled in his hair and Dude’s butt in his face, and Evie woke up squished underneath a combination of Mal and Carlos who were both curled up around the same pillow. 

~*~

Carlos felt loads better by the time everyone untangled themselves from each other and the blankets. His temperature was back to normal, his throat felt mostly fine, and he managed to eat most of the food they had stashed away. He felt a little bad about that because Jay was the one who was best at replacing it, and he knew Jay already felt horrible about all of the supply runs. 

“If you’re still okay by lunch time, you can go to class,” Mal decided and gave a protesting Carlos a smug grin when both Evie and Jay agreed with her. “I’m staying here for first period, Jay has second, and Evie will get third. We’ll bring you to lunch if your fever doesn’t come back, but if it does, we’ll make sure to bring something easy on the stomach. No protests. Jay will have the shift after lunch. Right, Jay?”

Jay nodded and pulled Carlos into a light headlock so he could ruffle his his hair. Mal rolled her eyes at them, but Evie just smiled and waved goodbye, checking her make up in her mirror before she left the room. 

“See you around lunchtime, bro,” Jay called out and followed after Evie. Dude, the traitor, left the room, too, leaving Carlos all alone with Mal.

Mal pulled out the homework she had yet to finish and distracted Carlos with questions until it was time for her to switch shifts.

~*~

“He seems energetic,” Ben commented as he sat down at the table next to Mal. Carlos was nearby doing cartwheels in the grass. Dude chased after him, barking quietly until Carlos stopped his cartwheels and threw a stick instead. 

“He’s been stuck inside the past few days,” Mal admitted then bit into her sandwich to avoid any further conversation.

“Why has he-“ Ben started to ask but was interrupted by Jay’s shouting. The three of them had a bad habit of interrupting him before he could ask questions they didn’t want to answer. Though Ben had no idea why this was one of them.

“Get over here and eat something! Evie found blueberries!”

Ben decided he must have looked too confused for Mal to handle because she admitted, “We made sure he ate, stayed hydrated, and took his medicine, but he’s better, now. We think. Everything’s fine.”

Ben started to ask what the nurse said about Carlos’ apparent illness, but he had the feeling none of them had consulted the nurse at all. Carlos seemed all right, at least, and Ben knew better than to bring it up out in the open. If he asked if Carlos had gotten sick, Jay would glare at him, Mal would insist everything was fine, and Evie would giggle and ask a nonsensical question to distract him, which somehow always ended up working. If Ben didn’t know any better, he would suspect magic was involved. 

“Wait, wasn’t he in class yesterday?” Ben asked and immediately regretted it. He thought he’d seen Carlos around school, but maybe he’d just imagined it. He definitely wasn’t going to ask again if all four of the Isle kids were going to stiffen and give him a wary stares.

“My classwork’s all done,” Carlos quickly insisted, sounding more panicked than he had a few minutes ago, and despite the energy he’d shown before Jay had all but ordered him to eat, he sat very slowly and very carefully at the table. It was almost as if he were waiting for Ben to give him permission to sit down, and he didn’t actually reach for any food until Jay handed Carlos his half eaten sandwich and shoved Evie’s blueberry container in his direction.

“I have apples, too,” Evie told Carlos as she reached over Jay’s food to pluck a blueberry out of the container. Carlos reached for one right after her and gave her a thankful grin but still shook his head at the offer.

“And I brought chocolate for dessert,” Mal declared with a proud and somewhat smug grin. 

Ben decided the best course of action was to eat his own sandwich and pretend he wasn’t observing their interactions at all. He doubted he was fooling any of them, but they were all polite enough to pretend he wasn’t being rude with all of the staring. It was rare that they pointed out Ben’s staring, and he figured it was in the hopes he would never pointed out when they stared at him or their classmates whenever they couldn’t understand whatever was going on. 

Carlos couldn’t stop grinning and looked pleased and surprised whenever someone offered him something else to eat, which was a lot more than usual. No one handed him anything without first letting him see them take a bite of it first, and every few minutes someone would interact with him in some way. Evie asked him questions about the classes he’d missed or reached over to grab a blueberry just as Carlos was reaching into the container too, Jay kept nudging him with a foot or an elbow and made comments too quiet for Ben to hear, and Mal tossed blueberries at his head or reached across the table to poke whatever bit of him she could reach for seemingly no reason at all. 

Ben was slowly learning that most of these behaviors were pretty normal for the four of them. Though it was odd to see them all used at once. Sometimes, they even included him in on them. Which probably explained why Carlos and Jay decided to make a game of tossing blueberries into Ben’s drink. Mal smirked at them and absently reached over to snag the ones that didn’t make it into the bottle so she could eat them….or toss them into Evie’s salad. 

Compared to the people Ben grew up around, these four were a bit strange, but they were interesting and kind (in their own way) and never tried to be anything other than themselves, even if they were still figuring out just who they were. That was okay. Ben didn’t know just what kind of person or king he was now or what kind he was going to become or even what kind he wanted to be, but for the moment, he didn’t need to worry about it. 

And if he grabbed a blueberry out of the air and tossed it back at Jay, managing to make it hit right between Jay’s eyes, much to Jay’s surprise, no one frowned at him for it. If anything, instead of disapproving, they’d just blame him entirely for the food fight that started soon after.


End file.
